Returning to Chicago on Christmas day of 1835, they secured quarters at one of the village hotels and remained there during the following winter. In the spring of 1836 they went to Joliet, then a promising town, where they determined to locate and engage in business. With the small means which they were able to command they opened a general store, and fortune favored them to such an extent that they soon built up a prosperous and renumerative trade. When work was commenced on the Illinois

& Michigan Canal, the Allen brothers were among those who thought they saw opportunities for realizing handsome profits from aiding in the construction of the proposed public works, and they accordingly contracted to construct two sections of the canal, on which much heavy rock work had to be done. The labor which they contracted to perform was not completed, but their expectations as to profits would have been fully realized, had they been compensated for the work done according to contract.

As is well known, however, the State of Illinois defaulted in its payments in this instance, and canal contractors were finally compelled to accept in full settlement of their claims, what was known as the canal scrip, worth at the time of its issue and acceptance from twenty to thirty cents. on the dollar of its face value. In accordance with the provisions of their contracts, these creditors of the

State had expected to receive their pay in gold or silver, and all their calculations and expenditures had been based upon this expectation. The failure of the State to meet its obligations involved many of the contractors in bankruptcy, and Thomas and Bennett Allen were among those who found themselves struggling under a load of indebtedness, which they were a long time getting rid of.

A keen sense of honor impelled them to continue the struggle, until all these creditors had been fully satisfied, and the last dollar of their indebtedness had been paid. Thomas Allen then returned to Chicago, while his partner joined their brother, Judson Allen, in St. Louis, where he spent the remaining years of his life.

When he found himself again in Chicago, Mr. Allen, being entirely without means and hence unable to begin business on his own account, entered the service of H. O. Stone & Co., with whom he remained in the capacity of an employe about two years. He was employed about the same length of time, or perhaps a year longer, in another one of the pioneer mercantile establishments of the city, which he left to enter the service of the Galena & Chicago Union Railroad Company, when the first line of railway west of the lakes was opened for business. When the first passenger train ever run out of Chicago, went out over this line, Mr. Allan had charge of the train as conductor, and

for several years thereafter he was in the employ of the railway company in the same capacity.

At a later date he engaged in the real estate business, in which he operated so successfully that he had accumulated a fortune of more than a quarter of a million dollars, when the fire of 1871 swept over the city and destroyed all of his income-producing property.

At that time he had just completed his arrangements for retiring from business, and was making preparations for a trip abroad. His household furniture had been stored in one place and his library and paintings in another, and Mr. Allen was living with his family at the Allen House, a hotel of which he was the owner. When the great conflagration had completed its ravages, his books and paintings constituted the sum total of his possessions, other than the lots covered with smoking debris, upon which had stood a few days before, business blocks and other buildings, yielding an income which amounted to a snug fortune each year.

This unfortunate turn of affairs disarranged all the plans which he had made for travel, and the enjoyment of luxurious ease, and set him to work planning to save as much as possible out of the wreck of his fortune. The struggle of the next few

years was hardly less perplexing than those of his pioneer days in Illinois; but success finally crowned his persistent and determined efforts, although it is possible that his accumulations have not reached the value of his possessions prior to the fire.

The year after the fire he removed from Chicago to the suburban village of Glencoe, where he built up a fine country home, in which he has lived the greater part of his time since that date.

Mr. Allen was married in 1839 to Miss Hannah W. Wilmot, of Unadilla, Otsego county, New York State. But two of their five children lived beyond the infantile period. Two sons grew to manhood, the elder of whom died several years since, and the younger two years ago.

The only political offices Mr. Allen has ever held were those of alderman in Chicago, and deputy postmaster in Harpersville, New York, in 1835, the latter during the second administration of General Andrew Jackson, as President of the United States. His affiliations were with the Democratic party up to the war period, since which time he has been a member of the Republican party.

He was brought up an Episcopalian, and has been identified with that church since his early manhood.

HOWARD LOUIS CONARD.